Names of Russian saints. Lives of Russian saints

Holiness is the purity of the heart, seeking uncreated divine energy, manifested in the gifts of the Holy Spirit as a multitude of colored rays in the solar spectrum. Pious devotees are the link between the earthly world and the heavenly Kingdom. Penetrating with the light of divine grace, they, through God-contemplation and God-communion, will learn the highest spiritual secrets. In the life of the earth, the saints, accomplishing the feat of self-denial for the sake of the Lord, receive the supreme grace of the divine Revelation. According to biblical teaching, holiness is the assimilation of man to God, who is the one carrier of the all-perfect life and its unique source.

What is canonization?

The Church's procedure of assigning the righteous to the saints is called canonization. She encourages believers to honor the recognized saint in public worship. As a rule, the church's recognition of piety is preceded by folk glory and veneration, but it was the act of canonization that allowed the glory of the saints to be glorified by the creation of icons, the writing of lives, the compilation of prayers and church services. The reason for the official attribution of the saints may be the feat of the righteous, created by him incredible deeds, his whole life or martyr's death. And after death, a person can be recognized as a saint because of the lack of his relics, or the miracles of healing that are happening in his remains.

In the event that a saint is worshiped within a single temple, city or monastery, they speak of a diocesan, local canonization.

Recognizes the official church and the existence of unknown saints, whose confirmation of piety is not yet known to the whole Christian congregation. They are called revered deceased righteous, and they serve a requiem, while the canonized saint serves moleben.

That is why the names of Russian saints, who are revered in one diocese, may differ and be unknown to the parishioners of another city.

Who was canonized in Russia

Long-suffering Russia gave birth to more than a thousand martyrs and martyrs. All the names of the holy people of the Russian land, who were canonized, are brought in the saints, or the messengers. The right to solemnly assign the righteous to the saints was originally possessed by the Kiev, and later the Moscow, metropolitans. The first canonizations were preceded by the exhumations of the remains of the righteous for the creation of a miracle. In the 11th and 16th centuries, the burials of the princes Boris and Gleb, Princess Olga, Theodosius of Caves, were uncovered.

From the second half of the 16th century, under Metropolitan Makarii, the right to canonize the saints went to church councils under the high priest. The indisputable authority of the 600-year-old Orthodox Church that existed in Russia by that time was confirmed by numerous Russian saints. A list of the names of the praised righteous by the Macarii councils was replenished with the saints' admonition of 39 pious Christians.

Byzantine rules of canonization

In the 17th century, the Russian Orthodox Church succumbed to the influence of the oldest Byzantine rules of attribution to the saints. During this period, clergymen were basically canonized because they had a church order. Also, the reckoning deserved the missionaries who carried the faith, and the associates of the erection of new churches and monasteries. And the need to create miracles has lost its relevance. Thus, 150 righteous were canonized, mostly from among the monks and the higher clergy, and the Saints enlarged the new names of the Russian Orthodox saints.

Weakening of church influence

In the 18-19th centuries, only the Holy Synod had the right to canonize. This period is characterized by a decrease in church activity and a weakening of its influence on social processes. Before the ascent to the throne of Nicholas II, only four canonizations were made. During the short period of the reign of the Romanovs, seven more Christians were listed as saints, and the saints supplemented the new names of Russian saints.

By the beginning of the 20th century, generally recognized and locally respected Russian saints were introduced into the month of the word, the list of whose names was supplemented by a list of deceased Orthodox Christians, to whom the funeral services were going on.

Modern canonizations

The beginning of the modern period of the history of canonizations, conducted by the Russian Orthodox Church, can be considered the Local Council, held in 1917-18, to which the revered Russian saints Sofroniy Irkutskiy and Iosif Astrakhansky were counted as the saints. Then, in the 1970s, three more priests were canonized: Herman of Alaska, Archbishop of Japan and Metropolitan Innokentiy of Moscow and Kolomna.

In the year of the Millennium of the baptism of Rus, new canonizations were held, where Xenia of Petersburg, Dmitry Donskoy and other equally well-known Orthodox Russian saints were recognized as pious.

In 2000, the jubilee Bishops' Council was held, at which the Emperor Nicholas II and members of the royal family of the Romanovs were "canonized".

The first canonization of the Russian Orthodox Church

The names of the first Russian saints, who were canonized by Metropolitan John in the 11th century, became a kind of symbol of the true faith of a newly baptized people, full acceptance of Orthodox norms. Princes Boris and Gleb, the sons of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, after canonization became the first heavenly defenders of Russian Christians. Boris and Gleb were killed by their brother in the internecine struggle for the throne of Kiev in 1015. Knowing the impending assassination attempt, they accepted death with Christian humility for the sake of the autocracy and tranquility of their people.

The veneration of the princes was of a mass character even before the recognition of their holiness as an official church. After the canonization of the relics of the brothers were found incorruptible and showed the ancient people miracles of healing. And the new princes who rose to the throne made pilgrimages to the holy relics in search of a blessing for a just reign and help in military exploits. The feast day of Saints Boris and Gleb is celebrated on July 24.

Formation of the Russian holy brotherhood

Following the princes Boris and Gleb, the monk Theodosius of Caves was counted among the saints. The second solemn canonization, conducted by the Russian church, was held in 1108. The Monk Theodosius is considered the father of Russian monasticism and the founder, together with his mentor Antony, of the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery. The teacher and the disciple showed two different ways of monastic obedience: one - severe asceticism, rejection of all worldly, the other - humility and creativity for the glory of God.

In the caves of the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery, bearing the names of the founders, rest the relics of 118 novices of this monastery, who lived before and after the Tatar-Mongol yoke. They were canonized in 1643, forming a common service, and in 1762 the names of Russian saints were included in the saints.

The Monk Abraham of Smolensk

Very little is known about the righteous of the pre-Mongol period. Avraamiy Smolensky, one of the few saints of the time, about whom a detailed biography compiled by his pupil was preserved. Abraham was honored for a long time in his native city before his canonization by the Makarievsky cathedral in 1549. After giving away all of their possessions to the needy who remained after the death of wealthy parents, the thirteenth child, who was begotten from the Lord by the only son after twelve daughters, Abraham lived in poverty, praying for salvation during the Last Judgment. Having tonsured monks, he rewrote church books and painted icons. Reverend Abraham is credited with saving Smolensk from a great drought.

The most famous names of the saints of the Russian land

Along with the princes Boris and Gleb mentioned above, unique symbols of Russian Orthodoxy, there are no less significant names of Russian saints who have become the defenders of the whole people through their contribution to the church's participation in public life.

After liberation from the Mongol-Tatar influence, Russian monasticism saw its aim as enlightening the pagan peoples, as well as erecting new monasteries and temples in the uninhabited north-eastern lands. The most notable figure of this movement was St. Sergius of Radonezh. For a godly solitude he built a cell on the Makovets hill, where later the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra was built. Gradually, the righteous began to join Sergius, inspired by his teaching, which led to the formation of a monastic monastery, living the fruits of their hands, and not the charity of believers. Sergius himself worked in the garden, setting an example to his brothers. Pupils of Sergius of Radonezh have erected about 40 monasteries throughout Russia.

St. Sergius of Radonezh carried the idea of God-pleasing humility not only to ordinary people, but also to the ruling elite. As a skillful politician, he contributed to the unification of Russian principalities, convincing the rulers of the need to rally dynasties and scattered lands.

Dmitry Donskoy

Great reverence Sergius of Radonezh enjoyed from the Russian prince, ranked saints, Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy. It was the Monk Sergius who blessed the army for the Battle of Kulikovo, started by Dmitry Donskoy, and sent two of his novices for God's support.

Becoming a prince in his early childhood, Dmitry in the affairs of the state listened to the advice of Metropolitan Alexy, who was glad for the unification of Russian principalities around Moscow. This process did not always go smoothly. Where by force, and where and marriage (in the Suzdal princess), Dmitry Ivanovich annexed the surrounding land to Moscow, where the first Kremlin built.

It was Dmitry Donskoi who became the founder of the political trend, which aimed to unite the Russian principalities around Moscow to create a powerful state from the political (from the khans of the Golden Horde) and ideological (from the Byzantine church) independence. In 2002, in memory of Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoi and St. Sergius of Radonezh, the Order "For Service to the Fatherland" was established, fully emphasizing the depth of influence of these historical figures on the formation of Russian statehood. These Russian holy people were happy about the welfare, independence and tranquility of their great people.

Faces (ranks) of Russian saints

All the saints of the Universal Church are generalized into nine faces or ranks: prophets, apostles, prelates, martyrs, martyrs, martyrs, confessors, bessrebeniks, holy fools and blessed ones.

The Orthodox Church of Russia differently divides the saints into faces. Russian saintly people, by virtue of historically developed circumstances, are divided into the following ranks:

Princes . The first righteous, recognized by the Russian Church as saints, became princes Boris and Gleb. Their feat consisted of self-sacrifice in the name of the tranquility of the Russian people. This behavior became an example for all the rulers of the times of Yaroslav the Wise, when the true authority was acknowledged, for whose sake the prince sacrificed. This rank is subdivided into equals (Christianity distributors - Princess Olga, her grandson Vladimir, baptized Rus), monks (princes, monastic vows) and martyrs (victims of civil strifes, assassinations, murders for faith).

Reverend . These are the saints who have chosen monastic obedience during their lifetime (Theodosius and Anthony of Caves, Sergius of Radonezh, Iosif Volotsky, Seraphim of Sarov).

The saints are the righteous who have a church rank, who have based their ministry on the protection of the purity of faith, the spread of Christian teaching, the foundation of temples (Nifont of Novgorod, Stephen of Perm).

Holy fools (blessed) are saints who bore the appearance of insanity while rejecting worldly values. A very numerous rank of the Russian righteous, replenished, mainly, by monks who considered insufficient monastic obedience. They left the monastery, going into rags on the streets of cities and suffering all privations (Basil the Blessed, Isaac the Recluse, Simeon of Palestine, Xenia of Petersburg).

Holy laypeople and wives . This rank unites the infants recognized by the saints who have renounced the wealth of the laity, the righteous, who were endowed with boundless love for people (Juliania Lazarevskaya, Artemy Vercolsky).

Lives of Russian saints

Lives of saints is a literary work containing historical, biographical and everyday information about the righteous, canonized by the church. Life is one of the oldest literary genres. Depending on the time and the country of writing, these treatises were created in the form of biography, encomium (laudable words), martyria (witnessing), paterika. The style of writing the lives in Byzantine, Roman and Western church cultures was significantly different. As early as the 4th century the Church began to unite the saints and their biographies into vaults that looked like a calendar with the day of remembrance of the pious.

In Russia, life appears along with the adoption of Christianity from Byzantium in Bulgarian and Serbian translations, combined into collections for reading by months-the monthly word and the minitay of the Fourth.

Already in the 11th century there appeared a laudatory biography of the princes Boris and Gleb, where the unknown author of the life is Russian. The holy names are recognized by the church and added to the month of the word. In the 12th and 13th centuries, along with the monastic aspiration to enlighten the northeast of Russia, the number of biographical works also grows. Russian writers wrote the life of Russian saints for reading during the Divine Liturgy. The names, whose list was recognized by the church for glorification, now have a historical personality, and holy deeds and miracles were fixed in a literary monument.

In the 15th century there was a change in the style of writing of life. The main attention was paid not to the factual data, but to the skillful possession of the artistic word, the beauty of the literary language, the ability to select many impressive comparisons. The skilful scribes of that period became known. For example, Epiphanius the Wise, who painted the vivid lives of Russian saints, whose names were most famous for the people - Stefan of Perm and Sergius of Radonezh.

Many lives are considered a source of information about important historical events. From the life of Alexander Nevsky you can learn about political relations with the Horde. The lives of Boris and Gleb tell of princely internecine strife before the unification of Russia. The creation of a literary and ecclesiastical biographical work largely determined which names of Russian saints, their exploits and virtues, will become most known to a wide circle of believers.